Seattle Derby - Seattle, WA
Heat One
Darrell Andresen, Andy Bing, Will Murphy, John Ruiz, Chris Henton, Bill Malbrough, Rob Remaley, Tom Gariepy, Bob Alexander, Matt Welliver, Charlie Clayton
Will Murphy was a popular man at the start of the first heat with Darrell Andresen making two solid hits before the referees called Andresen in for showing too much aggression on his victim. That was the only elimination in almost seven minutes before Charlie Clayton was also DQ'd for a rough hit on the driver's side door of John Ruiz.
Andresen had been a prime target for several drivers before he was ejected with both Clayton and tenth place man Timmy Barnes both moving on to Matt Welliver and Ruiz before their eliminations; Barnes' coming at the hands of Chris Henton and a vengeful Ruiz.
Bill Malbrough started his day by taking a heavy blindside hit from Murphy before working through the field hitting four different vehicles before stalling and leaving himself open to a Tom Gariepy finisher where his opponent went up and over the car causing an injury that could see Malbrough miss some time.
The final entrant who would miss out on further participation in Seattle was Bob Alexander who was looking for revenge on some slight as he hit Welliver no less than four times, but had a wild Rob Remaley doing the same to him with three hits before Tom Gariepy finished the job with his second shot on Alexander.
Gariepy and Welliver were out in seventh and sixth respectively, Andy Bing and Murphy clearing out the former, while Alexander did manage to take out Welliver but the three times eleventh placed finalist continued moving long enough to make his way into the consolation heat.
Chris Henton will look to qualify from that consolation heat and reach his third straight final after winning Spring Fling and earning his invitation to Idaho where he finished seventeenth. Henton was heavily involved with the exits of numerous drivers with several attacks on Barnes and a pair of hits on Murphy; he was blindsided once each by Malbrough and Alexander.
Five time finalist Will Murphy just misses out on a guaranteed place in the final but he may not have had any chance whatsoever with two stalls in the early stages leaving him wide open to the pack. When he was not stationary Murphy managed to lay hits on Bing, Gariepy, and Remaley twice before Bing finished what Henton had started.
The three finalists went hard at each other while keeping the heat going for another three minutes. Andy Bing was generous with his attention as he hit both Remaley and Ruiz while Rob Remaley was all about attacking Bing with five hits in the latter stages to put him down in third.
John Ruiz had made contact with Bing in the middle stages of the heat but he later turned on Remaley and won his second heat of the year to reach his fourth final.
Race Result
1. John Ruiz
2. Rob Remaley
3. Andy Bing
4. Will Murphy
5. Chris Henton
6. Matt Welliver
7. Tom Gariepy
8. Bob Alexander
9. Bill Malbrough
10. Timmy Barnes
11. Charlie Clayton
12. Darrell Andresen
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